10 



Rewards and Satisfactions 



The greatest satisfaction in being a scientist lies 

 simply in being a scientist. My own teacher, Professor 

 Walter B. Cannon of Harvard, used to say that he was 

 unusually fortunate among men because he had spent his 

 life doing exactly what he liked to do best and was paid 

 for it into the bargain. Many other scientists have felt the 

 same way. 



Of course, the life of a scientist has its ups and downs. 

 Almost every investigator will suffer from shorter or longer 

 periods of frustration and disappointment. The outcome 

 of any given piece of research is by its very nature un- 

 certain. If one knew the answer beforehand, there would 

 be no point in looking for it. As a matter of fact, the great 

 majority of scientific guesses turn out to be wrong. The 

 great majority of scientists therefore spend much of their 

 time proving that they are on the wrong track. On other 

 occasions the track may be the right one, but the available 

 tracking techniques prove themselves to be inadequate and 

 much time must be taken to devise new ones. 



In general, the foregoing frustrations are amply com- 

 pensated for in two ways. The greatest reward comes, of 

 course, when everything turns out right and one gets a 

 clear insight into a bit of nature or, rarely and gloriously, 

 into a whole natural system. Such moments of truth may 



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